Rahul mocks BJP for its ‘double standard’

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday lashed out at the BJP government in Karnataka, accusing it of selling the state to mining barons the Reddy brothers, looting its people and compromising its glory.

“The state BJP has won the World Cup of corruption,” said Gandhi while mocking the rival party for its double standards on the corruption issue as he addressed a rally in Mandya, 97km south of Bengaluru, as part of the third lap of his campaign for the May 5 assembly elections.

“The BJP people talk about corruption. Yesterday in Parliament, they spoke about corruption. But they will not talk about Karnataka… They will not say a chief minister (BS Yeddyurappa) went to jail… They will talk of corruption in the Centre.”

Yeddyurappa, who led the BJP to a historic victory in the 2008 assembly elections, quit the party in 2012 following charges of illegal mining to form the Karnataka Janata Paksha.

Gandhi went on to say that BJP had “mortgaged” Karnataka’s rich natural resources like iron ore to the Reddy brothers — G Janardhana and G Karunakara —and used their money to acquire power in the state instead of using those resources to build a future for the people of the state.

“So BJP used your money to give your Vidhan Sabha to the Reddy brothers…you got a corrupt Vidhan Sabha. You got no jobs… This is the type of government that the BJP offered for the last five years.”

Gandhi, who addressed two more rallies at Hassan and Belgaum on Wednesday, said in the last few years Karnataka had lost its “shine.”